SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 45 



the eye. — This bird " is held in high esteem for the table, for which 

 purpose thousands are yearly captured." 



Sedge Reedling, Salicaria phragmitis, — Becfin phragmite, Fr. — 

 Schilfsanger, G. Although every one knows that there is no dif- 

 ference of plumage in the sexes of these birds, we think our author 

 would have displayed better taste had he given a companion to the 

 solitary and cheerless individual at present figuring on a plate two 

 feet in length ; nor can we much admire the figure, although his 

 drooping appearance on the present occasion is doubtless owing to 

 his separation from his mate ! The Sedge Reedling is common in 

 all the moist parts of Britain, and its nocturnal song is almost as 

 pleasing to the true ornithologist as the more luscious strains of 

 Philomel ; and, were they poured forth more sparingly, might come 

 in for a share of that applause so universally conceded to the latter, 

 whose praises have been a theme of inexhaustible admiration 

 with the poets, time immemorial. 



The next plate represents a pair of Common Quails, Coturnix 

 dactylisonans, Meyer, — Caille, Fr. — Coturnice, It. — Wahtel Feld- 

 huhn, G. Any one unacquainted with these pretty little creatures 

 in their natural state, would entertain an idea that the birds were 

 larger than they actually are from an inspection of these figures. 

 Few faults are commoner than this in drawings of animals of all 

 classes, and it is a pity that artists do not guard against it more 

 carefully. The quail is veiy widely dispersed in the old world. 

 " So vast and countless are the flocks which often pass over to the 

 islands and European shores of the Mediterranean, that a mode of 

 wholesale slaughter is usually put in practice against them, which 

 no doubt tends to limit their inordinate increase. They are polyga- 

 mous in their habits ; and in the migrations the males always pre- 

 cede the females, and are easily decoyed into nets by an artificial 

 imitation of the voice of the latter." — In Britain, the Quail is spa- 

 ringly but equally distributed, arriving in spring, and departing, 

 with the fall of the year, for the south. Lays eight to twelve eggs, 

 " pale yellow brown, blotched and dotted with darker brown and 

 black," and deposits them on the bare ground. The throat, black 

 in the male, is white in the female and young. 



Riippcll's Fauvet, Ficedula Rupcllii, — Becfin dc Riipell, Fr. — 

 The female in the plate is well deserving of commendation. Both 

 the figures are drawn from specimens in the collection of Dr. Riip- 

 pell, the eminent continental zoologist. Inhabits the north and east 

 of Africa, passing occasionally into the adjacent confines of Europe. 

 " ftf. Temininck informs us that it gives preference to thickly 



